


The Ride From The Airport

by coralysendria



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Community: trope_bingo, Deal with a Devil, Gen, Missing Scene, Trope Bingo Amnesty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-29
Updated: 2015-11-29
Packaged: 2018-05-03 21:26:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5307449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coralysendria/pseuds/coralysendria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Pierce asked the World Security Council members how their trip to Washington was, Councilwoman Hawley said, "The flight was lovely; the drive from the airport, less so."  </p>
<p>This is why....</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Ride From The Airport

Gwendolyn Hawley enjoyed flying. It didn't matter whether she was the pilot or, as she was now, a passenger; she loved the sensation of flight. Today, however, she found herself unable to enjoy it. Something about the assassination of Nicholas Fury nagged at her, a wriggling worm of misgiving crawling through her mind. As much as she loathed the man and could, at times, have gladly shot him herself, if there was one thing she knew about him, it was that Nick Fury was an unwavering patriot. He would not -- could not -- have stooped to selling secrets. That his death came so close to the launch of Project Insight made for an extremely suspiciously-timed coincidence. Even more irksome was the disappearance of Steven Rogers. The idea that Rogers was involved in Fury's death was laughable.

Then there were the two matters of the missile launched by SHIELD against one of its own original installations and, a couple of days later, the theft of equipment from an American military base. It all added up to something, but Gwendolyn could not seem to arrive at the proper sum.

The rest of the Council wanted to see Insight launch on time. She was less sanguine, but had allowed herself to be swayed by her colleagues.

She rather wished that she had time to stop and discuss the matter with Peggy. On Peggy's good days, her mind was as analytical as ever. Unfortunately, she was having fewer and fewer good days; there was no guarantee that if Gwendolyn simply popped in, she would find Peggy able to help. Insight would launch tomorrow. She didn't have time to camp on Peggy's doorstep, waiting for a lucid moment.

The pilot announced their descent into New York and Gwendolyn shelved the whole thing for now. At least she had the prospect of a day's shopping in New York -- her granddaughter's birthday was next week -- to take her mind off things before she had to be in Washington at the Triskelion tomorrow.

Mercifully, it did not take long to get through Customs and collect her luggage. She had called ahead to arrange a car...ah. There. She headed toward the limousine driver, a heavy-set fellow in dark livery, holding a neatly-printed sign. He looked vaguely familiar.

"I'm Gwendolyn Hawley," she said.

He smiled. "Good afternoon, Ms. Hawley. My name is Hogan. May I take your bags?"

"Thank you, Mr. Hogan." She surrendered the handle of her suitcase to him, but retained her briefcase and purse.

"If you'll follow me, ma'am?" He turned and led the way through the airport, expertly dodging other travelers. "Where are you headed, ma'am?" He nodded when she named her hotel. "Very good, ma'am. Is there anywhere you need to go first?"

She thought briefly about shopping for Victoria's birthday present before going to the hotel, but the thought of a hot bath changed her mind. "No, thank you, Mr. Hogan."

She was afterwards only able to say that she was tired from the flight, because she should have recognized Hogan; she knew who he was. It was only when he led her to a stretch limousine -- not the car she had ordered -- that she twigged to the fact that not all was as it should be.

"This is rather ostentatious for a kidnapping, isn't it?" she asked, as he held the door for her.

Hogan shrugged. "Sorry, ma'am. We didn't have a plain white panel van available."

She resisted the urge to smile at that. "And is Mr. Stark within?"

"He is," Tony Stark answered. He leaned over so that she could see him. "Get in, please, Councilwoman. My colleagues and I have something we'd like to discuss with you."

Gwendolyn slid into the seat next to Stark. Hogan closed the door; Gwendolyn heard the opening and closing of the driver's door, then the limousine was in motion.

"You look well, Mr. Stark."

"You look tired," Stark said, with his customary lack of manners. He gestured toward the limousine's small bar. "Drink?"

"No. Thank you. You said you and your colleagues had something to discuss with me? I presume you mean the Avengers?"

Stark's smile was lopsided. "Yes and no. How's that call coming, Jay?"

A screen slid down from the limo's ceiling. "Rerouting the transmission now, sir," a pleasant voice said.

"That's not your driver," she observed.

Stark laughed. "No. That's not Happy. Who is no longer my driver, I might add, but the head of security for Stark Industries."

"And yet he couldn't lay his hands on a white panel van for a kidnapping?" Gwendolyn said dryly.

Stark grinned at her, but his reply was forestalled by the appearance of Natasha Romanov on the screen, apparently leaning in toward the camera of a laptop.

"Widow," Stark said. "Pleased you could make our little party. The Councilwoman was just complaining that I didn't have a plain white panel van in which to abduct her."

Romanov's eyes flicked to Gwendolyn. "We'll have to plan better next time. Are we secure?"

"We are secure, Agent Romanov," the pleasant voice replied.

"Thanks, JARVIS," Romanov said. She moved back from the camera to reveal Steve Rogers, Maria Hill, and a battered, but very much alive Nick Fury.

"Councilwoman," Fury said. "As you can see, the rumors of my death have been slightly exaggerated."

Facts began to realign themselves in Gwendolyn's mind. "I think you had better explain yourself, Director. What in hell is going on?"

"Hydra," Rogers said, something dark and unfathomable in his eyes. "Hydra is what is going on." 

Gwendolyn raised an eyebrow. "Hydra? Really, Captain. I don't think--"

Fury interrupted her. "He's right, Councilwoman." The story he told her then was unbelievable -- and yet, it explained so many things, some of which, even the director of SHIELD was not aware of. Gwendolyn's doubts about Project Insight, which had seemed such a good idea on paper, were now proved real and credible. She had never particularly cared for Alexander Pierce, despite his affability. There was just something about him that...well, it wasn't important, now. She had thought it was simply because he had always backed Nick Fury and SHIELD, even when Fury was being as obstinate and insubordinate as only he could be. This algorithm of Zola's -- and she remembered that little toad of a man with distaste -- she began to wonder if she herself were not a target. Certainly all of those involved in this call, and probably Mr. Hogan in the driver's seat, were.

"Project Insight must not launch," Steve Rogers said. "We have to stop it."

Gwendolyn looked at Stark sprawled comfortably on the other half of the limousine seat. "Surely you can stop it? Surely you built in safeguards?"

Stark shrugged. "No. I'm afraid that my attention has been on other projects lately. When my good friends at SHIELD asked for my help, I helped. For some reason, they were reluctant to accept anything other than hardware from me."

"I wonder why that could have been," Fury said. "Maybe it had something to do with hacking our systems right before New York?"

Stark flicked his fingers. "As I said to the Captain then, an intelligence agency that fears intelligence is not awesome. Funny how I was right about that."

"So you have no access to Insight at all?" Gwendolyn asked, ignoring Stark's dig.

Stark's eyes cut away from her. "Jay?"

"I am working on it, sir, but I have so far had no success."

"Keep at it, Jay."

"Of course, sir."

Gwendolyn realized the pleasant voice was Stark's AI. He might try to hide the program's existence, but everything that occurred on the helicarrier was recorded. The annoying little twit had used JARVIS to dig out Phase Two.

"We're not going to be able to do this from the outside," Captain Rogers said. "We need to go in."

"I brought the suitcase suit," Stark said.

"No," Gwendolyn said. "You should not be involved with this, Stark. You need to stay free from the taint of Hydra." She turned back to the screen. "We're having this conversation because you want something from me. What is it?"

"Only your blood, Councilwoman," Black Widow said.

"I'm going to assume that since we're having this conversation, you don't want terribly large quantities."

On the seat beside her, Stark tapped on a tablet, then handed it to her. On the screen a diagram slowly rotated. A holographic mask with DNA coding? Like all of Stark's designs, it was brilliant. 

"Ah," she said, instantly divining its purpose. "And what will you do, Agent Romanov, while you are wearing my face?"

Romanov shrugged expressively. "Stop Project Insight."

"And what will I be doing while you are wearing my face?"

"You'll be staying with me," Stark said. "Well. In my Tower, anyway."

Gwendolyn raised a brow. "Your Tower, Mr. Stark?"

"It was the safest place we could come up with for you to stay until this is over, Councilwoman," Captain Rogers said.

"And a good place to stash me if I decide not to cooperate?" She took pity on Rogers. "Don't worry, Captain. I agree. I have had my reservations about Project Insight from the beginning. I find myself somewhat annoyed with Alexander Pierce."

Rogers looked relieved. "Thank you, Councilwoman. If you'll simply carry on with your plans for the day, Natasha will meet you to retrieve the mask." He reached toward the camera.

"Cap," Stark said, "are you _sure_ you don't need me for this? Or Bruce? Bruce is good at disabling helicarriers."

Rogers leaned back a bit. "No, Tony. You need to stay clear of this. Iron Man above all cannot be seen to be taking down government agencies. Not even corrupt ones. You know that."

"I don't like it."

"Nor do I, Mr. Stark," Gwendolyn surprised herself by speaking up. "But in the words of the poet, 'they also serve who only stand and wait.'"

Stark nodded and seemed to deflate a little. "Fine. We'll serve, then. From a distance. Be careful, Cap. You too, Widow. I know Nick'll be fine; he's like a cockroach."

"I heard that, Stark."

Rogers glanced behind himself, then back to the camera. "Take care, Tony. You know you're a target, too." This time, when he reached out to turn off the camera, Stark didn't interrupt.

"And that's that," he murmured.

Gwendolyn suddenly realized something. "But we didn't set up a rendezvous with Agent Romanov."

Stark shrugged. "Don't worry about it. She'll find you. She's creepy like that."

"Well, in that case," Gwendolyn said, "I came to New York for some shopping...."

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. It always bugged me that we never see how Hawley gets diverted so that Natasha can impersonate her. (It also bugs me that we don't get to see them steal the Falcon rig, but someone else can write that one. Someone else probably already has.)
> 
> 2\. I have never seen the Councilwoman's first name, so I called her Gwendolyn. (Maybe her first name actually _is_ Councilwoman, but I doubt it.)
> 
> 3\. Unfortunately, I do not own any of these characters. This is a fanwork. No infringement is intended, and no profit will be had hereby. (Dammit. I have bills to pay.)
> 
> 4\. This fills the "Deal With The Devil" square on my current Trope Bingo card. It's up to the reader to decide who is the devil....


End file.
